Box Office Report: ‘Solo’ Has a So-So Opening Weekend

Disney and Lucasfilm’s Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t come close to the opening weekends posted by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One, or Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Solo explores the life of Han Solo in the years prior to Stars Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and stars Alden Ehrenreich as the younger version of Harrison Ford. Opening over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the studio expected the film to ring up between $130-150 million domestically. However, the holiday weekend found the Star Wars prequel grossing $84 million over three days and an estimated $103 million over four days.

In contrast, 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens rang up $247 million during its first weekend in release. Rogue One followed in 2016 and grossed $155 million over its opening weekend. Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrived in theaters in December 2017 and collected $220 million domestically over the first weekend.

Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s box office could have been affected by the recent release of the superhero films Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2. Solo went after the same demographics as those films, and Deadpool 2 in particular probably drew ticket buyers away from Solo. Plus, Solo’s baggage heading into theaters may have dampened the appeal of a new Star Wars film. The behind-the-scenes drama involving the booting of original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord over creative differences might have put off some potential moviegoers. Ron Howard was brought in to take over directing and reshoots supposedly changed much of Miller and Lord’s original vision for the film.

Another factor affecting Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s box office could be that Star Wars fans have reached a point where they don’t automatically buy a ticket for every film in the franchise. With so many Star Wars projects in the pipeline, the revived film franchise might already be heading toward if not a saturation point, at least the point where the films are no longer an event-type release.

Next weekend Solo: A Star Wars Story will be going up against three wide theatrical releases. Adrift starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin is set to open in 2,900 theaters on June 1st. The latest Johnny Knoxville comedy, Action Point, will be released by Paramount in 2,000 theaters next weekend, and Upgrade with Logan Marshall-Green is also set to enter theaters on June 1st.